


Coming Out of My Shell and I've Been Doing Just Fine

by beedoo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drinking, Exhibitionism, M/M, Masturbation, Party, Voyeurism, camboy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:07:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28126620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beedoo/pseuds/beedoo
Summary: Akaashi is a creative writing major who thinks he needs to be more outgoing. Bokuto is a college athlete who outwardly shows all of the confidence in the world, but inwardly worries that he doesn't have much to offer.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 16
Kudos: 41





	1. Gotta be Down

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written anything before, but I felt the need for this in my life so I'm going for it. Hopefully there are no glaring typos or errors!

“Come on, man! You know that’s not true. He was just a major douchebag. You’re one of the most fun, interesting people I know!” Kuroo hops up off the ground where he is sitting, surrounded by empty beer cans and half eaten bags of snacks. 

“I don’t know... He never gave me a solid reason to break it off and the only thing he ever complained about was how boring I am” Akaashi replies, sighing, and leans forward to accept the bottle of cheap wine that Kuroo has retrieved from the kitchen of Akaashi’s tiny one-bedroom apartment. He takes a long swig, tipping the bottle all the way back to retrieve the last few drops of booze. “I think I’m done with men. I’m going celebite.” It has been just over a week since his fling with one of the university swim team members abruptly ended, and Akaashi is feeling especially bitter tonight, likely fueled by the drinking that Kuroo had suggested as a means of ‘dulling the pain’ or something. 

Kuroo chuckles and plops back down on the ground. He smirks. “You don’t mean that. You’ll be right back in the saddle in no time. We just have to find you a tall, sexy, beefcake of a man to rebound with. You know, if you want I can always ask Kenma if he’s up for a third and we cou-” 

“Nope!!!” Akaashi claps his hands over his ears, waiting to move them until he’s sure Kuroo has stopped talking. “I’m beginning to think that letting you come over was a mistake” 

“Bros don’t let bros get wine drunk alone!” whines Kuroo, who is looking a bit worse for the wear, knocking over a beer can with a sweeping gesture as he speaks. “I’ll admit that maybe the effects of ethanol on the body are more of a detriment than a benefit in this case, but I have way more ideas to cheer you up! And I promise they won’t involve threesomes, at least not with m-”

“Speaking of which, shouldn’t you be getting home to Kenma?” Akaashi interrupts, turning away to hide a small smile. If nothing else, the ridiculousness of his close friend is distracting him from his sour mood. “And I don’t need some kind of freaky sex to get over him. Even if I might never find someone with such nice broad shoulders, and thick legs, and so many abs...” Akaashi trails off, spacing out as another wave of drunkenness hits him and his vision blurs. 

“Kenma never worries about me being out late. But anyway, hear me out! Come meet some of my volleyball bros at the halloween party in a couple weeks! I promise they’re a million times more jacked than some swimmer dude, plus some of them are even kind of good looking! And gay! I bet three fourths of the team is at least closeted bisexuals if the looks I get in the locker room are anything to go by!” Kuroo smirks with not entirely unwarranted confidence. 

“Don’t flatter yourself” Akaashi keeps his face straight, careful to give no exploitable emotion. “You know you’re not my type”

“Pffff... I’m everyone’s type.”

“If you say so... I guess I’ll consider going to the party. As long as there won’t be too many people there. I know how you student athletes can get” 

“For sure bro!” Kuroo pulls his phone out of his pocket and starts looking through his messages for an address. “Every team member is only allowed to bring one friend this time. We don’t want a repeat of last new years”

Akaashi shoots Kuroo a blank look, a little curious, but he knows that Kuroo clearly wants him to ask, and knowing that hearing about some crazy, out of control, college party will only turn him off to the idea of attending the upcoming one, he changes the subject. “What about Kenma? Shouldn’t he be your plus one?”

“Nah, you know how he feels about social events, plus if he ever changed his mind I’m sure I could convince one of my teammates to give up their invite. I’d just have to perform a few... favors” Kuroo looks up from the text he’s drafting and wags his eyebrows up and down.

Akaashi rolls his eyes and looks over to his phone when it lights up with the text Kuroo sends giving details for the time and address of the party. 

“Oh, and make sure to wear a costume! You’ll get made fun of if you don’t.”

Akaashi nods, not excited about the prospect of dressing up, but definitely wanting to avoid being made fun of for being too tame to even wear a costume to a halloween party. The just-barely-too-serious-to-be-teasing way that his ex-fling used to call him ‘lame’, and ‘boring’ leaving open wounds that are making him do things like down a bottle of wine on a weeknight. 

He stands up to stretch his arms out and yawn and realizes just how unsteady he feels on his feet, stumbling a little with his heels against the back of the couch. “I’m going to bed. I have to be up early tomorrow to make office hours for my essay” Akaashi gestures back at the couch “she’s all yours if you don’t wanna walk home.”

“Yeah sure, gimme a blanket or something and I’ll be out for the night. Practice kicked my butt today. I could use some sleep more than I could use a real bed.”

“I’ll never understand how you can drink like a fish one night, and then play a full five sets the next day and not be puking on the court. It can’t be good for you”

“Electrolytes bro. It’s all about the body’s ability to rehydrate itself through osmotic gradients”

“That’s my cue to go to bed, goodnight Kuroo” Akaashi tosses a blanket to Kuroo as he crawls onto the couch and settles in. 

“Goodnight, bro” Kuroo is already snoring by the time Akaashi finishes getting a glass of water and turning off the lights.  
Akaashi lays awake in bed, listening to the soft sounds of Kuroo snoring in his living room and waits for his stomach to settle and the room to stop spinning. Talking with Kuroo has been nice, but he can’t shake the feeling that it was his fault that this last flame didn’t work out. They hadn’t been together long, but Akaashi had really enjoyed his company, plus he wasn’t half bad to look at. He briefly considers that he will most likely regret agreeing to go to Kuroo’s party, but decides that it is a step in the right direction when it comes to proving that he isn’t boring. He’s not sure who he is even proving it to at this point, it might just be spite talking, but he’s resolved to try to come out of his shell a bit more and is glad that he’s plans to go out with Kuroo that will be hard to back out of once he’s sober in the morning. He closes his eyes and waits for sleep to come to him.

The next day, Akaashi misses the office hours he had meant to attend, far too sluggish in the morning to get out of bed in time. Kuroo, on the other hand, is up at dawn, making way too much noise in the kitchen as he searches for a cup and rummages through the fridge to find the sports drinks that he had brought with him the night before to gulp down before he leaves the apartment for his morning run. Akaashi briefly wonders if the sciency stuff Kuroo had been rambling about the night before wasn’t total bullshit as he had suspected, but decides that his own hangover is likely just due to his lower tolerance and slimmer frame.

Class is boring that day, although Akaashi finally manages to perk up a bit in the afternoon once he loses some of his sensitivity to the bright classroom lights and booming voices of his professors lecturing. As he returns home at the end of the day he resolves that along with working on being more interesting, he should try to bulk up a bit more so that he can keep up better with Kuroo in the future. He tries and fails miserably at mustering up the motivation to go to the apartment complex’s gym, instead opting for a quick half hour of some simple yoga and bodyweight exercise before settling in to work on his big essay for the evening.

Soon enough his rough draft is completed and he sends off an email to his professor with several questions and a weak excuse about not being able to attend office hours. With his homework squared away for the moment, Akaashi is free for the rest of his evening, which is unfortunate for him at the moment, when the majority of his leisure time in the last few days has been spent agonizing over what went wrong with the guy he had been seeing. He is well aware that he tends to be a bit of an overthinker, but being self aware doesn’t stop him from replaying their last conversation in his mind, trying to find deeper meaning in words where there was none. All evidence merely points to the fact that the dude just wasn’t ready for a commitment, and wanted to break off their arrangement before he was stuck in a real relationship, unable to enjoy the sexual liberation that comes with being in college for many students. Akaashi can’t help but think this is still somehow his fault. Maybe if he was more willing to go to the house parties and clubs with him or maybe if he had worn more fashionable clothes, maybe if he had talked less about his boring linguistics class and more about something exciting... 

Saving and closing his essay on his laptop, Akaashi decides that he needs some kind of distraction. He’s a bit pent up after two weeks of sulking preventing him from getting in the mood. He pulls up a private tab and grabs a pair of headphones, then searches for something to watch. After scrolling through his favored site for a minute he comes across something that catches his eye. Though it's not a video and instead an ad for a site with live cam shows, promising some pretty obscene and borderline impossible things, but the man in the ad is definitely Akaashi’s type, with a thick frame full of visibly powerful muscle and a large, wicked grin. Although he’s never watched anything like that before, Akaashi considers that maybe his new, more interesting version of himself would even be more adventurous in his porn watching habits and his cursor hovers over the ad. Before clicking on it, however, he decides that an ad on a porn site is probably more likely to give his computer a virus than give him the mind-blowing, non stop orgasms that it promised, and he goes back to his browser to search up live cam sites instead. Clicking on the first one that seems popular and legitimate, he clicks on the tab for male shows and is shown several options for live shows which have just started. One in particular piques his interest. The man’s profile picture shows his full, heavily muscled body, although his face is mostly covered by a plain white masquerade mask and his hands just barely cover his crotch. He has a huge grin on his face that almost comes across as goofy, and Akaashi has always been a sucker for a great smile. He clicks on his username, GreatHornedHunk, and briefly wonders if it is a reference to the owl species, the man’s junk, or both before the video pops up. 

The man is sitting in a computer chair, wearing grey sweatpants that sit low on his waist and no shirt, revealing broad shoulders, defined arms, and absolutely chiseled abs complete with a strong V leading down between his legs. He has on the same masquerade mask that he did in the profile picture but Akaashi can see a bit of his enticingly bright, golden brown eyes now. Up close his hair appears to be an odd combination of grey and white, messily falling over the mask. He is much less suave than Akaashi was expecting, talking loudly and excitedly to the camera. He greets people joining the live stream that have usernames, presumably some regular watchers, and responds to comments and questions sent in the chat. 

“Hey, bigdaddy! Long time no see I know! I’ve been in one of my moods, you know how I get. All better now though, and ready to give you the show of your life!” “Whats up, thickdickrick! How have you been?” “Lots of new names and randos tonight I see. Any newbies have questions or suggestions before we get into it?”

The chat lights up with a number of responses, people asking for his name or making advances, some insisting that he hurry up and take his pants off or complementing his figure. 

“Hmm.. well I can’t give you my real name, but you can just call me BK, good enough?” “And thanks! You guys are so sweet! I’ve been working hard in the gym!” He hops up and starts posing, flexing his biceps and abs, which Akaashi eyes with increasing lust. The guy is a bit goofy, but he likes that. He almost reminds him of Kuroo, just way less annoying if his first impressions are anything to go by. The man suddenly strips his sweatpants off, now rambling about his hamstrings and quads and how much he has been squatting lately. Akaashi’s eyes widen and his cheeks flush as the man’s visibly muscular thighs are revealed. He feels his dick twitch in his pants as he notices the man’s sizable bulge underneath white boxer briefs. Oh yeah, this guy is definitely Akaashi’s type.

A couple messages in the chat catch the man’s attention, insisting that he ‘get naked already’ and ‘shut up and get on with it, dumbass’. The last message has a donation of 100 site tokens attached to it, and Akaashi gathers that it must be a relatively large donation since BK almost immediately responds, laughing it off. “Haha, well if you insist, but the name calling seems a little unnecessary!” He looks a little dejected, and Akaashi can’t help but feel sympathy for the energetic man, although he gets over it quickly, as the man plops down in his chair again and begins slowly running one of his hands along his sculpted chest and torso, the other hand dipping down to rest on top of the bulge between his thighs. “It’s been a while, so I’m super horny tonight” The man sighs, and Akaashi’s dick instantly responds to the shift in mood, quickly hardening in his pants. 

BK’s hand resting on his crotch begins to move up and down, teasing his cock which slowly begins to fill out his boxer briefs. “Yeah, it’s pretty damn huge” he responds to the chat which seems to be filled with viewers who are just as enamored with the man’s growing bulge as Akaashi, who has begun to mirror the cam boy, rubbing his hand against the fabric at his crotch, providing much needed friction against his dick. 

“Wanna see?” The man asks, looking directly into the camera with a big smile on his face. “What do you say? 200 tokens and I’ll let you all have a look. A number of smaller 5 and 10 token donations pup up as well as one large 50 token donation, and the 200 is quickly met. 

“Damn, you guys are eager today. That’s fuckin hot.” BK hooks both his thumbs under the band of his boxers and slowly pulls them down, revealing a thicket of light grey hair. It crosses Akaashi’s mind that his unusual hair color might actually be natural, considering this new development. The base of the man’s cock is revealed as his underwear are pulled even lower, excruciatingly slowly. The man certainly knows how to build anticipation. Finally, his dick springs free, standing hard and at attention. ‘Damn huge’ was no exaggeration. Although Akaashi has nothing to compare it to in the video frame, he’s clearly well endowed and Akaashi can’t help but wonder how it would feel in his own hands. 

The black haired man quickly unzips his fly and pulls his own dick out of his underwear, beginning to stroke in earnest as he watches precum gather at the tip of the streamer’s cock. 

“Usually I’d make you guys donate again to see me touch it, but I’m feeling generous today.” The man swipes his thumb across the head, spreading the leaking precum over his shaft. 

The man begins to make quiet sounds as he strokes, little moans of ‘ah’ or grunts every time his fingers glide over the sensitive tip. “Mmm... I bet you all fucking love watching this” he speaks in a low, serious tone. 

Akaashi is captivated, jerking his dick faster as he stares at the man’s body. The man’s abs contract and relax as his dick twitches and finally the cam boy picks up his pace, his arm muscles flexing in tension. “Oh shit... Feels so fucking good” The man moans louder, leaning back with his eyes closed and his mouth agape but still smiling. 

He continues quietly cursing and moaning, and beads of precum continue to leak out of the tip of his dick. “I’m close, hope you’re all ready” 

The chat lights up with comments and tokens, people encouraging the man to finish. A few seconds later he does, grunting as he spills over his chest and fingers in thick ropes of cum. He shudders in his chair, eyes fluttering and abs contracting as his huge dick gives a few more twitches and stills. He melts back into his chair, lazily wiping cum from his chest in a way that is clearly more for exhibition than cleaning. 

The man reads a few messages in the chat as he begins to wipe up with a tissue retrieved from outside of the frame. “Want me to taste it? Nah, I’d rather taste someone else’s” he winks “maybe next time if you tip enough haha” he yawns and stretches his arms out. “How tall am I? I’m 6’2!” “I know! Good for sports, right? No wonder I’m so athletic!” Another huge grin appears on his face, although it’s cut off by yet another yawn. 

“Well, you know how I get. I’m always sleepy after... ya know” The man seems suddenly much more sheepish than he did seconds earlier, although he makes no effort to put pants back on. “I’m back from my break, so I’ll be going live around this time a couple days each week, you regulars know the drill.” He responds to a few more questions, thanks some of the viewers who tip him, and finally signs off with a wave and another big grin. 

Akashi clicks a couple minutes back on the video progress bar, to rewatch the most interesting part of the stream, stroking himself and letting his non-dominant hand ghost over his chest as he mirrors the rhythm set by the camboy. He reaches his own release quickly, closing his eyes and letting the man’s soft moaning fill his ears as he finishes all over his own hand. 

After pausing the replaying video stream, Akaashi wanders over to the shower to clean himself off and get ready to go to sleep. He returns to his bed where the laptop sits, still open to the site, a paused image of the camboy in the middle of the act graces the screen. Before Akaashi goes to exit out of the tab he pauses. The steamer is really hot, and he has certainly made a habit in the past of returning to favorite videos. He sighs and clicks on the top left of the page where he creates an account, inputting an email account he only uses for spam and types in the username RufousLegs, thinking about the camboy’s name which seemed to be an owl reference as well. If the grey haired man’s best feature was his ‘horn’ then Akaashi figured his own notable trait was his long, lean, smooth legs which he never failed to be complimented on by past partners. Many of the girls in his major had even complained to him about how jealous they were of his shapely thighs during the hotter months when he chose to wear shorts to class. Once his account has been created he clicks the follow button next to GreatHornedHunk’s profile and finally exits out of the site, feeling relaxed and ready for bed now that he has been thoroughly distracted from his earlier sulking.


	2. I want it all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some plot and some spice for y'all. Hopefully there aren't any typos or grammar mistakes. I'm terrible about rereading my own writing.

The next day, Akaashi wakes up feeling refreshed and in a good mood. He talks more than he usually would in his classes, even offering up a positive critique of one of his classmate’s drafts in his poetry class. He is a bit notorious for his brutally honest, overly analytical peer reviews amongst his acquaintances in the creative writing department and he has learned that sometimes it is better to keep his opinion to himself even when he knows that his advice is warranted.

He attends office hours and speaks with a professor on the essay he has been working on. The professor, Takeda sensei, is one of his favorites. Takeda offers him little advice on his essay, but a lot of praise. Although Akaashi isn’t always very confident in himself he knows that he is a good writer and it fills him with joy to receive affirmation of his talent from someone he respects so much. 

Akaashi gathers up the papers he has strewn across the professor's desk and carefully puts them back in his messenger bag. He is getting up to leave and thank his professor when Takeda stops him. “Have you given any thought to what you’ll present at the Christmas party?” 

Akaashi hasn’t. Every year after finals are over the department throws a party where all the creative writing students and staff gather to give out awards and wind down after the end of the semester. And of course there is also the matter of the infamous open mic competition. Students are invited to read their original poetry or short stories, or even on occasion sing songs to entertain the audience who then votes on their favorite performer. The winner receives $500, bragging rights, and the chance to have work published by one of the professor’s publishing connections.

“Um... No, I hadn’t planned on preparing anything. I don’t really think that my style would be received well” Akaashi is frankly surprised that Takeda would expect him to take part in the competition. By the time that the competition starts, students who are old enough have typically taken full advantage of the drink services offered by the caterers, and are most impressed by obscene and comedic pieces rather than the sophisticated, intellectual work that Akaashi likes to write. He has never participated before, and this year was shaping up to be no exception.

“What do you mean?! You write brilliantly, I’d be if you gave it a shot you’d be a shoo-in!” Takeda’s round eyes light up behind square glasses, and there is no hint of uncertainty on his face. Akaashi’s heart is warmed by the endorsement, but he’s sure the instructor hasn’t really thought this through. 

“I don’t have much talent for humor, sensei. Thanks for all your help today” He turns and walks out of the office.

“I’ll change your mind! Just wait and see!!” Takeda calls after him with a wave. 

Days go by, and finally it’s a Friday night and Akaashi has no plans. It has been a relatively busy week with school and he can’t wait to curl up on the couch with a good book tomorrow. Maybe he’ll even start thinking about putting together a costume for the Halloween party with Kuroo. He wouldn’t want to match, would he? Probably not... Plus Kuroo will likely prioritize showing as much skin as possible over choosing something tasteful. He heads to bed early with nothing better to do, but finds himself restless once he’s tucked under the covers of his bed. 

His mind wanders to BK, the camboy from several days ago, and he realizes that it’s around the same time of day that he had been live. His interest piqued, he gets out of bed and retrieves his laptop and headphones, opening the site. To his disappointment, the streamer doesn’t appear to have been active since last time when Akaashi clicks on his profile. Despite this, he scrolls down the man’s page, scanning across a number of older, pre recorded videos that he has posted. Most are locked, prices seem to be set at roughly a dollar per minute, although a couple have tags advertising free previews. Akaashi clicks on one of these, descriptively titled ‘dirty talk with a toy’ and as soon as the video pops up he is greeted with the same grinning face partially covered with the same masquerade mask from the live cam show. 

“Hey guys! I’ve gotten a lot of comments about my voice in the last couple shows so I thought I’d make a special video for my adoring fans. I’ve got a little helper with me today too.” He holds up a clear fleshlight so that the camera can see. “I’ve never owned anything like this before, but I thought it would be a good investment.” The man puts on a smirk as though he is extremely proud of his business sense. 

“Plus, I was just super curious about what they feel like” He positions the camera at a slightly downward angle, then zooms out so that his surroundings can be seen. His entire bed can be seen in the background with generic looking dark bedding. BK walks back to the bed and kneels on it facing the camera. He is shirtless again, only wearing a pair of black athletic shorts that should hit a few inches above his knees, but they have ridden up his sizable thighs a bit, clinging to the muscle and showing off a fair amount of leg. 

“Anyways, hope you enjoy!” He positions two pillows stacked on top of each other in the center of the mattress, then nestles the toy in between them, turning to the camera so that his side profile is visible.

“I’ve been thinkin’ about you, baby'' The tone in his voice noticeably shifts and the effect on Akaashi is immediate. He must have a microphone hidden somewhere close to him because his voice sounds like it is whispering directly into Akaashi’s ear. Or maybe it’s just the way BK is speaking as though in some sort of extremely intimate and private conversation that most people would never dream of posting to the internet for anyone to see. BK palms himself through his shorts and groans. “I can’t stop imagining what I could do to you... what you could do to me...”

Akaashi is mesmerized. It’s almost impossible for him not to fantasize about the man. The sound of his voice in Akaashi’s ears sends tingles down his spine, and the scenarios which his mind conjures up fill his body with expectancy. His dick is already starting to throb, blood rushing downward to his crotch.

BK has pulled his shorts off and is now kneeling, sitting back on his heels and facing the camera as he teases himself. His fingers trail gently along his hardening length, and he continues to address his viewers. “I hope you like what you see. I bet watching me like this makes you so fucking horny.” 

He sighs deeply, sending another wave of arousal through Akaashi’s body. “Go ahead, baby. Touch yourself for me. I want you to feel good.”

Akaashi’s eyes widen and he blushes furiously. Dammit. He really can’t help himself from following the man’s instructions, quickly pulling his underwear off so he can stroke himself to his full hardness, wasting no time. 

“I want you to watch me while I fuck this toy. I want you to imagine that it’s you. I want you to think of how it would feel if you were here with me.” His voice is soft and breathy as his hand ghosts across the head of his dick which is twitching with need and anticipation. BK grabs a small bottle of lube from a nightstand near the bed and coats his cock in the substance. The microphone picks up the erotically wet sound of BK’s hand stroking up and down his lube covered dick, causing Akaashi to blush again. Finally, he turns to the side and prepares to enter the toy. Just as the tip of his dick meets the opening, the video goes black, a screen appearing that prompts the viewer to pay in order to see the rest of the clip. 

Shit. Akaashi doesn’t really have a choice. He is extremely invested in seeing (and definitely hearing) what happens next, plus he figures that sex workers are probably underpaid and ripped off all the time. What harm could it do to support the man? For all he knows he’s just a student like Akaashi who could be struggling to pay tuition or rent or something. Before he can back out, he grabs his wallet off his nightstand and enters his credit card information, buying the video and claiming the free tokens which come with the first time a user makes a purchase on the site. 

Immediately he returns to the video. BK sinks into the toy slowly, sighing deeply as it takes his full length. “Fuck...” he mumbles and begins grinds in and out of the toy. “God, this feels fucking amazing.” His muscles ripple as he moves and it’s a beautiful sight. His dirty talk devolves until he’s mostly muttering nonsense and moaning. 

It’s easily worth every penny Akaashi spent to watch the man pleasure himself. His athleticism is obvious in the graceful but powerful way that the man’s hips thrust. And he’s definitely never had anyone be quite this vocal in bed in his experience. As both Akaashi and the man on the screen become more and more desperate for release, BK continues to groan and sigh. He gets more and more frantic, snapping his hips forward hard and fast, holding down the pillows with an iron grip so he can fuck into the toy. His forearms bulge with the effort. It’s almost animalistic the way he humps frantically, grunting and groaning with his mouth wide open.

He is almost whimpering by the time his hips stutter to a stop, his abs visibly twitching and his head rolled forward. His whole body appears to seize with pleasure and he is covered in a thin coat of sweat. Akaashi soon follows suit, closing his eyes as his orgasm hits him so his mind is filled with nothing but the sound of the man’s exhausted panting. 

After a few moments of lightheadedness, Akaashi sits up and grabs a few tissues to clean himself up with, leaving the video on as BK winds down the video. The muscular man lays on his side with his head propped up on his fist, yawning but still enthusiastic. There is a lazy grin on his face that Akaashi is quickly becoming particularly fond of. There’s something about the confidence in his smile that makes Akaashi one-hundred-and-ten percent sure that this man is drop dead gorgeous beneath the mask which hides the better part of his face. Then again, does it even matter? There is certainly enough visual appeal with the mask on. It’s possible that it's even adding to the attraction. Is he developing a mask kink because of this? Akashi wonders if it's even possible to acquire a kink or if you just discover them. Doesn’t it have something to do with weird childhood trauma. He doesn’t think he has any but who knows. He is definitely reading into this way too much. 

Soon enough, Akaashi drifts off to sleep with vague thoughts of the man swimming through his head. He wakes up the next morning with the fuzzy remnants of memories from a dream, almost like a handful of mostly unrelated frames taken from a movie that must have starred a certain masked man. 

The rest of Akaashi’s weekend is spent mostly at home, catching up on some reading and homework, plus cooking some more elaborate meals than anything he could manage on a school night. He convinces Kuroo to go to the gym with him on Saturday morning, and by the time they leave he is completely drenched with sweat and his arms feel so shaky he’s not sure that he will be able to manage to lift utensils to his mouth to eat at the restaurant where they are heading to eat lunch. Kuroo acts more like a nerdy personal trainer with a phd in biomechanics than a gym buddy, but Akaashi mostly knew what he was getting into. 

At the restaurant, they chat for a while about the workout they’ve just completed, and Kuroo’s eyes light up when Akaashi lets him ramble about the science behind how to build muscle and the differences in training for strength, size, speed, and endurance. Akaashi starts to get a little lost when Kuroo begins going through every item on the menu and suggesting what Akaashi might get while trying to explain the benefits of calculating your daily macronutrients.

“Not to cut you off, but I think I’ve reached my limit on how much fitness information I can absorb in one morning. Plus I don’t really want to think of my lunch in terms of chemical formulas” Akaashi can only indulge his ranting for so long, and he definitely doesn’t want to think about the amount of fat present in the entree he has been eyeing.

“Come on, Bro! If I can’t tell you about this stuff then who can I tell? You know that Kenma doesn’t have an athletic bone in his body, plus he barely listens to me anyway. I need an apprentice who I can pass all of my vast knowledge to!” Kuroo whines. 

“Can’t you talk about this stuff with your teammates or something?” Akaashi’s face stays unamused. After several years of friendship he is practically immune to Kuroo’s wailing. 

“Most of the guys on the team aren’t exactly here on merit scholarships... honestly I’m not even sure if some of them can read” Kuroo rolls his eyes, but has a fond smile on his face. “The only other guy on the team that lifts outside of our team training got a 24% on his last math test. One time I saw him squat a bar that was loaded up with an extra 45 pounds on one side and not even notice till someone pointed it out in his third set! Plus all the smart guys on the team are total assholes”

“And you’re no exception.” Akaashi adds under his breath.

“So you think I’m smart?” Kuroo winks at him, Ignoring the insult. 

“No, I think you’re an illiterate meathead” Anyone who didn’t know Akaashi as well as Kuroo might have missed the subtly sarcastic lilt of Akaashi’s retort. Kuroo just laughs, used to his friend’s dry wit.

“I’m the full package, brains and brawn. Plus I’m funny and extremely kind.” Kuroo puts one hand over his heart and holds his other hand out, as if miming that he is some kind of saint. 

“Every day I am more and more amazed that Kenma puts up with you.” Akaashi is definitely going to text Kenma later about this conversation so he can join Akaashi in making fun of the rooster-haired chemistry major. “Not to mention your poor teammates, who probably have no idea that you talk so much shit about them behind their backs” 

“Oh trust me they’re well aware of all the badmouthing I participate in. Our team bonds are mostly based on friendly teasing anyway. You would know something about that. If only people knew how sassy you really are.” Kuroo shakes his head, feigning disapproval and leans back in his chair, hands clasped behind his head. “I think you’ll get along with the guys from the team just fine if you show them that smart mouth of yours at the party”

Kuroo must have picked up on the fact that he has been a little anxious about meeting his entire team. So far he’s only heard nameless stories and watched games from the stands, never letting Kuroo introduce him to the intimidatingly energetic and athletic young men. It’s reassuring to hear him say that they might get along, whether or not Kuroo’s assessment is accurate.

“Oh yeah, that reminds me, do you already have a costume planned?” Akaashi hasn’t bothered to come up with any ideas yet and he is hoping that Kuroo might lend some inspiration. 

“Bro I’m so glad you asked. It’s gonna be sexy as hell. Remember that bathrobe I got for Kenma last Valentines?” Akaashi definitely doesn’t but he nods his head.

“Well he hates it, so I’m gluing on some bits and pieces and I’m gonna do a boxer thing. Ya know with the robe and some basketball shorts. Plus I’m making a belt out of cardboard or something. Ooh and I’ve got some tape I sto- I mean borrowed from the trainers office so I can wrap my fists up all cool too.”

“Sounds like an excuse to go shirtless” Akaashi admits to himself that it was a good idea, although a little inappropriate for the cold weather. 

“You’re just jealous that I don’t have an extra robe so we can match. You can always be my ring girl if you want!” Kuroo wags his eyebrows. 

“I’d rather look for another robe at the thrift store or something. Then again I don’t think I’d make a convincing boxer next to you” Akaashi racks his mind to come up with another related costume, but the best he can come up with is referee and he really doesn’t want to put effort into putting together an outfit just to end up wearing an ugly black and white striped shirt. 

“Come on, I think you’d look fine. Anyways don’t you have anything in your closet already that could work?” For as much of a jackass as Kuroo is sometimes, he also has his sweet moments. 

“I guess I might.” He quickly flips through his mental catalogue of clothes, and comes up with a few possible options. “I’ll probably still have to go to a costume store for a couple things.” 

“Well I’d offer to go with you, but I promised Kenma I’d be home most of today to help test out some multiplayer features on the game he’s been designing before I head out of town all week for that tournament with the team.” 

“No worries, I’ll figure it out on my own.” Akaashi gives him a soft smile. Despite the earlier teasing he knows exactly why Kenma puts up with him. Kuroo can be a good friend and an even better boyfriend sometimes. And he would clearly do pretty much anything for Kenma. They tended to bicker, but over the last several years that Akaashi has known the couple he can’t remember even a single big fight between the two men. Akaashi, on the other hand, has had a string of unstable relationships and friends with benefits. His even temperament makes it difficult for Akaashi to communicate his feelings sometimes, and it has led to a number of misunderstandings. Kuroo and Kenma have been there every time he gets hurt though, and he always ends up back on his feet.

The two men chat for a while longer while they eat their lunch, then Kuroo heads back to his and Kenma’s shared apartment, leaving Akaashi to run his errands alone. He stops by a pop up Halloween store on his way home, and luckily finds several cheap props that he thinks will work with some of the clothes he already has. 

Once he gets home he pulls out a shirt and a couple different pairs of pants from his closet, considering his options and then selecting what he thinks will work best. He grabs the accessories he picked out from the halloween store as well as a pair of shoes and lays the complete outfit on his bed. He sends a picture to Kuroo before folding everything neatly and placing it on top of his dresser. His phone buzzes in his pocket. 

Kuroo: Bro! I dig it, you’re gonna look great. Kenma agrees!

Akaashi: Tell Kenma thanks for me. See you on Friday.

Akaashi smiles to himself. It has been a while since he has been this excited for a social event. Kuroo’s teammates at least sound interesting and it can’t hurt to meet a few young athletic guys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited for the party scenes. I've got some good stuff planned.


	3. Eager Eyes

The next few days go by mostly without incident. Monday, Takeda stops him after class to bug him about preparing something for the Christmas party again, and Akaashi brushes him off once more. On Wednesday one of Kuroo’s teammates who he vaguely recognizes comes up and sits next to him in class. He’s a couple years younger, but they’re both taking an economics class to satisfy one of their more general degree requirements. 

“Hey you’re Akaashi, right?” The lanky, freckled boy flashes him a smile.”

“Um yeah. You’re on the volleyball team with Kuroo, right? Why aren’t you at the tournament with them? Are you hurt or something?”

The boy’s smile turns sheepish and he looks down. “I didn’t actually make the team. I’m just a manager. They don’t need me to travel with them most of the time. Sometimes they let me play when they need an extra body for serve receive drills or scrimmages though. Anyway Kuroo told me about you. I’m Yamaguchi” He holds his hand out for Akaashi to shake. 

“Nice to meet you!” Akaashi takes the hand. He can’t help but wonder what the hell Kuroo is up to, prompting this kid to approach him for seemingly no reason. 

“You’re going to the party on Friday, right?” Akaashi nods. “Awesome! There is going to be a ton of hot guys there!” The kid’s cheeks blush slightly red under his freckles. Ah. He understands now. Kuroo is either trying to set him up with the kid or force Akaashi into making another gay friend, an area in which Kuroo claims he is lacking.

“Anyone you’ve got your eye on? Wouldn’t want to step on your toes.” Akaashi gives him a small smile. 

“Well... theres sorta this one guy...” Before he can finish, the professor is starting class, effectively ending their conversation. When the class ends Yamaguchi rushes to gather up his things, shoving his notes into his backpack. 

“I’ve gotta go, my next class is all the way across campus, anyway it was nice meeting you! See ya on Friday!” The lanky, freckled boy gives Akaashi a wave as he hurries off. He’s cute, but not Akaashi’s type. Oh well, if nothing else it might be nice to have someone to consult other than Kuroo on his more difficult homework assignments in the class. Kuroo is smart but he tends to go on long tangents about science that Akaashi can’t even pretend to be interested in and struggles to explain any kind of math without the use of higher level calculus and a lot of imaginary triangles.

He goes over to Kenma and Kuroo’s place that night to keep Kenma company while Kuroo is out of town. Kuroo has conspired with him to make sure that Kenma eats at least a few real meals when Kuroo isn’t around to cook and encourage him to eat something with nutritional value. Of course, Akaashi doesn’t mind spending time with the more introverted man, even if they end up silently playing games or doing homework independently across the room from each other. If only more people understood the peacefulness of silence. He heads home after stalking the apartment’s fridge with at least three more meals worth of leftovers, although he’ll leave it to Kuroo to make sure the skinny blond actually eats the rest of it. 

He gets to his own apartment and checks the time. He doesn’t have class till the afternoon tomorrow, plus all his homework is done for the week. He should really get some more hobbies. Or maybe Takeda is right and he really should come up with something for the Christmas party. He doesn’t really have much else going for him at the moment. Maybe with enough time he could write a slam poem or something.

He decides that he’ll just go to bed now and try to get some kind of workout in tomorrow morning before class, but as he goes to get in bed his laptop is sitting open on his comforter. He closes out of the homework tabs he had open and OH MY GOD how long has that tab been open? Luckily he didn’t bring his computer to class this week because the camboy site he has been frequenting is still open to BK’s page, and he is affronted with a number of explicit video thumbnails as well as an announcement proclaiming that the man will be live in 15 minutes. 

Although Akaashi hadn’t really planned on doing anything like that tonight, he does have a weakness for the man and can’t stave off the instant interest in watching another live show. It would be a shame to miss it really. He settles into bed with the computer on his lap and waits for the show to begin while scrolling through the man’s other videos. He is just beginning to consider purchasing another or rewatching the one which he bought when the live feed pops up. This week the man has set up a white board taped to some kind of tripod stand which lists numbers of tokens next to a list of types of requests. The list includes everything from “Questions: 5” and “Any toy: 250” to “Weird foot stuff: 1000+(cause trust me you don’t want to see em and I don’t wanna show em)”. Akaashi makes a face at that last one, not sure if the man is joking, and uncertain if he should be amused or disgusted. He doesn’t know much real money the tokens translate to, but he assumes that must be enough to discourage most people from seriously asking for that. 

“Hey, hey, hey!” The man greets the viewers who have already joined the video with a toothy grin. “Thought I’d do some requests today since I’m feeling generous. Prices are on my handy dandy board here, feel free to ask away although I’d like to start with the cheap stuff and work our way up if that’s alright with you guys”

Akaashi remembers the free tokens that he received when purchasing the video, and goes to check his token balance, thinking that now would be as good of a time as any to spend them. He only has 10, enough for two questions and not much else. Immediately he begins thinking up what he most wants to know about the man. Donations begin popping up in the chat, and the man begins responding to them, all questions to start off with.

“Tits or ass? Definitely ass. And thighs. I’m a big thigh guy. No disrespect to boobs though.” It strikes Akaashi that the man may not be interested in men at all. He just sort of assumed that he was considering that the viewers seemed to be almost exclusively male, not to mention the fact that the titles of a number of the videos included anal play, something that Akaashi wouldn’t expect from most straight men. 

“How many inches? Ah I get this one a lot. I’ll round to 8 but I don’t think I’ve owned a ruler since middle school so I can’t show you proof.” The man smirks and puts his hands behind his head, leaning back with his legs spread in his chair, almost as if he is daring the viewers to examine the bulge in his thin athletic shorts. 

“Weirdest place I’ve had sex? Hmmm.... probably a locker room haha. It’s quite the story, maybe I’ll share it later.” Akaashi wonders if he would ever be capable of following through with something so daring. Probably not. The closest he has ever come to anything like that is probably a public makeout in the dark corner of a bar, and even that was fueled by a little too much cheap liquor. Before he lets the residual embarrassment of that particular memory sink in he types up a question of his own and tips.

“What is a surefire way to turn me on?” The man reads out Akaashi’s question. It’s not like he is deluded into thinking that he’ll ever get the chance to meet the man and use the knowledge, but if he is going to regularly fantasize about the man a little extra inspiration won’t hurt. Hearing the man read out his question in his enthusiastic voice raises Akaashi’s heart rate more than he’d like to admit. Everything leading up to this moment had simply been observing from a distance, but now the man has acknowledged his existence and despite the indirectness of it Akaashi is nervous. 

“If I had to pick just one it would probably be whispering something dirty right in my ear. Never fails to get me going” As if to prove his point, one of his hands drops down to his crotch and casually ghosts across the front of his shorts, which Akaashi now notices have begun to stretch to accommodate a growing bulge. Akaashi blushes furiously, wondering if the man was really just an exhibitionist to the core or if his particular question had helped give rise to the man’s physical reaction. 

As the man answers more questions he continues to occasionally palm his dick, slowly bringing himself to full hardness and responding to questions in a more and more sexual manner. Once Akaashi has mostly recovered from the response to his first question, he types out his second and tips the last of his tokens. 

“What’s my type? Well it depends. I don’t really care what you look like or even what parts you have. It’s all about connection, if you know what I mean. Oh and someone who’s really good with their hands if that counts.” The man winks at the camera, flashing his teeth in a cocky grin. Akaashi had been trying to subtly get to the bottom of the man’s sexuality without directly asking, and the answer was even more than he would have hoped for. He finds himself wondering if he is any good with his hands. It’s not something he has ever been complimented on particularly. He spreads his fingers and flexes them, staring at the man’s hand on the screen. His fingers are a bit boxy and slightly crooked but the way in which they move deliciously slow up and down his erection is more than enough to get Akaashi really going.

“Let’s up the ante, shall we?” The man gestures to the board behind him “Who wants to see the shirt come off?” He flexes both biceps and almost immediately someone tips enough to pay for his entire outfit and then some to come off. 

“Someone is eager!” He grins and begins a show of stripping off his shirt, trailing his hand from the base of his neck to the top of his shorts, before slipping underneath the hem of his shirt and dragging it up to reveal his abs. He pulls the shirt off completely and turns his attention to his shorts, pulling at the waistband to reveal just a bit more of the skin underneath. 

ZZZ! ZZZ! ZZZ! The cell phone on his dresser lights up with a call and Akashi slams the laptop closed, startled. It’s Kuroo, who probably just got back to his hotel after an evening game. Ugh, he should probably pick up.

“Hello?”

“Yo!! What’s good my man?” His cheerful tone immediately tips Akaashi off that the team must be doing well in the tournament.

“Hey, Kuroo, how did your games go today?” Akaashi desperately tries to collect his composure, sure that he sounds a bit shaky from the shock and embarrassment of being interrupted. 

“Awesome! We won the first match in three sets and then the second one in five. Would have been over a lot quicker if they’d just put in my prodigy that I’ve been training up though. Tsukki would have stuffed their big ass middle blocker so bad in the second set. His only good shot is a slide, but he always hits cross court...” Kuroo rambles on about the match, and Akaashi lets him. The detailed recap is much more for Kuroo’s benefit since Akaashi can’t keep up with all of the volleyball slang, especially when it is applied to opponents and teammates that Akaashi is unfamiliar with. Finally Kuroo winds down his post-game strategic report, and gets to his original reason for calling which is to check up on Kenma. Akaashi doesn’t mind, the athlete’s concern is incredibly sweet. He gives Kuroo a quick report on Kenma, assuring him that he has been eating and sleeping, and only teases him a little bit for being so worried about leaving his boyfriend alone for more than a day. 

Finally, Kuroo ends the call, clearly exhausted and needing a full night’s sleep before his final round of games tomorrow. Akaashi puts his phone down and glances at the closed laptop sitting next to him in bed. Kurro’s interruption of his earlier activities has completely killed his mood, and he doesn’t even want to open the screen and be faced with whatever the stream has progressed to at this point, so instead he just rolls over and closes his eyes, letting his mind wander as he drifts off to sleep. 

Friday rolls around and the excited buzz surrounding Halloween weekend is palpable in Akaashi’s classes. The second the lectures end, clumps of students form to make and break plans, discussing which gathering will have the most free booze or the hottest guys, or the most girls. One of his acquaintances even invites him to go with her group of friends out to one of the frat houses, where she claims he will be let in if he has at least two girls accompanying him. He politely declines, of course. A crowded basement with sticky floors and music so loud you can’t hear yourself think isn’t really his scene. Kuroo texts him saying to come over early so they can pregame and get ready together, so Akaashi heads home to eat a big meal and grab his costume. 

As soon as he arrives at Kuroo’s house, it becomes abundantly clear why he wanted to meet so early. At the door he is greeted by a panicked Kuroo, and he can hear Kenma snickering behind him in the living room. The man has clearly attempted to give himself a fake black eye using some kind of face paint, but it has turned into a bright red circle more reminiscent of some kind of weird clown than someone who has been in a fight. Unfortunately that's not even the worst of it. With a pained expression, Kuroo lifts up his hands, completely stained a blotchy bright pink from the facepaint. 

“Uhhhhh.... So any idea how to get this off?”

Akaashi snorts, trying not to laugh too hard at the image he is picturing in his head of Kuroo with a huge pink ring around his eye having to explain himself over and over again in class and practice. 

Eventually, after about an hour of trying every type of remotely skin safe cleaner in the house, and an embarrassing trip to the grocery store, coconut oil mostly does the trick, and Akaashi is able to cover up any remaining discoloration with some cheap concealer. 

Kuroo settles for a fake bloody lip, this time testing the fake blood out on the back of one of his hands to make sure he doesn’t create another unfortunate stain. Once Akaashi is done helping him out he changes into the rest of his costume. He is already wearing black pants tucked into boots as well as a flowy white button down. He undoes a couple buttons, belts the shirt at the waist and puts on a long necklace, several rings, a fake sword holster containing a cheesy plastic toy, and a pair of gold hoop earrings. For a finishing touch he adds the three pointed costume pirate hat that came in a pack with the sword (and an extremely poor quality eyepatch which he is definitely not going to wear). He gives himself a quick once over in the mirror, undoes one more button just for good measure, and joins Kuroo in the kitchen where he is already loudly chastising Akaashi for being “two shots behind”. 

He can’t deny that they look good. Kuroo’s athletic torso is on full display underneath his undone silk robe, and he really does look like he is fresh from an easy win in the boxing ring with the fake blood appearing as though it dripped down his chin and onto his toned chest. His natural confidence and messy hair complete the illusion. Kenma certainly seems to be appreciating the view, sneaking glances over to the dark haired athlete every few seconds from where he sits with his switch in the living room. Akaashi’s lean figure looks elegant and alluring in his getup, and his sharp features are augmented by the eyeliner and jewelry 

“Shots??” Kuroo asks, but he is already pouring cheap liquor into a second shot glass on the counter. 

“Please tell me you have something that I can chase that with...” Akaashi’s stomach turns at the thought of taking straight shots, something that he has never quite gotten the hang of. 

“Uhhhh..... Lemme see” Kuroo turns to rummage through the fridge, turning up a half gallon of whole milk, a couple different cheap beers, and a half finished bottle of gatorade which he claims may or may not have vodka mixed in.

“I’m almost tempted to consider the milk, but screw it, give me the gatorade” Kuroo Passes him the bottle and they clink their glasses together and tip back the shots. 

Kuroo is largely unfazed, blinking hard a couple of times and shaking his head before going right ahead and pouring himself another. Akaashi’s eyes water and he chases with the gatorade, swishing it around in his mouth to get rid of the burning aftertaste. 

Before he has recovered from the first shot Kuroo fills his glass again and takes a pull straight from the bottle before screwing the cap back on. 

“There’s no way that is sanitary” Akaashi gives Kuroo a judgmental look.

“Oh come on, alcohol is a disinfectant” Kuroo points to his brain as though that would somehow make his point more valid. 

“Whatever you say'' Akaashi takes his second shot, coughing as soon as he gets it down and fighting the urge to gag. After a couple minutes he struggles through two more shots, finishes the gatorade and shoves the bottle at Kuroo. “Ready when you are”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is already pretty much done, I just have to decide where to cut it off so expect more soon!


	4. Swimming Through

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck it. We posting chapter 4 ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

By the time they reach the house both boys are definitely feeling the effects of the pregame. Kuroo is his typical self, only somehow even louder. Luckily, the alcohol loosens Akaashi’s usual stiff composure, and makes Kuroo’s obnoxiousness a bit more tolerable. As they walk up to the front door the muted sounds of music and conversation can be heard, and led lights can be seen flashing colors through the windows. Kuroo doesn’t even bother knocking, and opens the door to the mildly chaotic scene inside. 

Almost immediately there is yelling. Kuroo’s teammates who bother to turn towards the opened door greet the middle blocker with shouted nicknames. A tall man with silver hair and light eyes runs up to them, waving his long arm wildly and hands Kuroo a beer. He’s in some kind of toga getup that is clearly just a bedsheet haphazardly belted around the waist. “Kuroo pleeeease be my beer pong partner tonight, I need to kick Hinata’s ass!” 

“No way, go convince Yaku or something. My man Akaashi here is gonna help me wipe the floor with you.” Kuroo slaps Akaashi on the back. “Come on let’s find you a drink” The tall silver haired man pouts and turns away, presumably to continue searching for someone else to ask. 

“That's Lev, he’s kind of an idiot. Cute though, right?” Kuroo turns and winks at Akaashi who is following him closely through the crowded living room. 

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to be like this all night.” Akaashi scans the room as they squeeze past a group of dancing girls that already appear to be stumbling. In the living room people are mostly talking loudly over the music to each other and sipping their drinks, laughing and bouncing up and down to the music.

Further into the house Akaashi can see a dining room with a table that is clearly being used for some drinking game. Someone bounces a ping pong ball successfully into a stack of cups and the crowd surrounding the table erupts in cheers. 

As they pass the dining room the kitchen comes into view where a group of four is pouring shots into glasses attached to a ski. “Three, two, one, UP!” one of them chants and they pick up the ski, tipping back their shots in unison. Unfortunately the red headed kid in one of the middle spots is significantly shorter than the other three, and most of the liquid ends up poured down his chin. He begins shouting at the tall, black haired man next to him who is coughing and laughing uncontrollably. Despite the animosity between the two they are wearing matching flight suits and aviators. 

The other two men watch the scene with amused smirks. The tallest one is blond and wearing a pretty lazy looking devil costume consisting of a red dress shirt and some plastic horns. He leans down to whisper something in the other man’s ear who is wearing a corresponding angel costume. His face lights up and he laughs, snorting. Akaashi knows that he recognizes him from somewhere but it takes him a moment before he realizes it is Yamaguchi. The lanky boy has on a pair of colored contacts with huge light blue irises and an excessive amount of gold jewelry. In addition to his freckles, his cheeks are dotted with silver glitter. Akaashi wonders if the devil is the one the kid has his eye on. Clearly that must be going well considering the matching costumes. He’ll have to ask him about it later. Although he doesn’t like to admit it, he can be a bit of a sucker for gossip at times. 

Kuroo pulls him away from the kitchen, recognizing someone else who must be another teammate. “Ay, Yamamoto, what’s up my man?” The two chat for a moment before Kuroo has the man direct him to the garage, where he is promised there will be “hella drinks”. 

Akaashi follows once again as Kuroo navigates, going out to the backyard and through a door to the garage. Inside there are more lights and louder speakers. A table is set up for beer pong, and another one contains several thirty racks and a plastic tub of jungle juice with a cup taped to the handle of a spatula being used as a makeshift ladle. 

Kuroo scoops him a cup of the juice, complete with an orange slice and tells him to drink up. Akaashi obliges. The drink is sweet and he can’t immediately taste whatever it has been spiked with. Kuroo finds a bottle opener on the table and pops off the cap of his beer. 

“Pong?” Kuroo gestures to the table. “Why not” Akaashi responds and they make their way over to the table where no one has started a game with some cans of lukewarm beer from the table. As they fill the cups a stocky muscular man with short brown hair in a cowboy costume comes up to Kuroo and puts his arm around his shoulder. “What's this? Are you trying to get your ass beat?”

“Daichi! What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be responding to a noise complaint or something?” The men smile at each other and clasp hands in a familiar gesture. 

“Careful, rooster-head, I might just write you up for supplying minors. Suga wanted me to go so I thought I’d come keep an eye on things. Who’s this?” He gestures to Akaashi who is busy pouring beer back and forth between cups, trying to get them as even as possible. 

“This is Akaashi, we’ve known eachother since highschool. Akaashi, this is Daichi. We used to play against each other in highschool. I’ve never seen anyone run so many penalty laps in a single day” 

“Very funny, shall we introduce a penalty lap to the game he?” 

“You must be a glutton for punishment. House rules already include a naked lap, how about you worry about that before you get too ahead of yourself.” 

“Fair enough. I’ll go grab Suga from the basement. Be right back.” The man hurries off to find his partner.

“Naked lap??” Akaashi asks in a slightly panicked tone. 

“You’re kidding, you’ve never played with a naked lap rule?!” Kuroo looks offended. Akaashi just shakes his head and shrugs.

“Well don’t worry about it, all you have to do is make at least one cup. Shouldn’t be an issue unless I win before you get the chance. Unless, of course, you were worried about seeing my hot body and being unable to control yourself” Kuroo winks and pulls his robe open all the way

“There is something seriously wrong with you” Akaashi shakes his head at his overconfident friend. 

Soon, Daichi returns with his grey haired friend and the game is on. No one on the table is even close to Kuroo’s level. The man is clearly well practiced. Everyone manages to make at least one cup before Kuroo sinks the winning shot and resumes his trash talking. The commotion of the game has attracted a few onlookers, and as soon as the game ends there is another duo stepping up to play the winners. Kuroo does an expert job of taking down each opponent, including Lev and his short statured teammate who yells at him for every missed shot, and Akaashi does his best to hold his own, making at least a couple shots each game. 

In their fourth match they play a particularly boisterous team consisting of Kuroos friend from earlier, Yamamoto, and his equally loud mouthed friend with a buzz cut, Tanaka. Despite his best efforts, the latter fails to make a cup before the end of the game. Far from being embarrassed, however, the man immediately begins to strip off his skeleton onesie, yelling “Someone get Kiyoko! She’ll totally want to see this!”

A crowd follows him outside to the backyard where he finishes stripping and takes off sprinting, holding his junk in one hand until his back is to the crowd at which point he throws both hands into the air, whooping. The crowd cheers him on as he disappears behind the side of the house, reappearing a few moments later on the other side of the yard. He pulls his boxers on quickly when he reaches the end of his lap, but one of his friends has stolen his onesie in the commotion and he is forced to chase his friend around the yard in his undies, screaming at the cackling thief. Akaashi covers his eyes as the man tackles his friend, embarrassed to watch him straddle his friend while almost nude. Tanaka, however, does not seem phased and continues to wrestle his friend for the costume, rolling around in the grass. 

Once the show is over, some of the crowd filters back inside along with Kuroo and Akaashi, who decide to quit the pong table while they are ahead. 

Kuroo seems to know almost everyone at the party, and as they wander around the house the taller man stops to talk to several of them and introduce Akaashi who is quickly running out of the necessary mental capacity to remember all of the new names as the jungle juice takes effect. Finally, Akaashi spots Yamaguchi across the room, and leaves Kuroo’s side to go say hello. 

Yamaguchi catches sight of him and waves him over to where he is dancing alone, nursing a drink.

“Hey Akaashi! You look great! I love the hat” Akaashi grabs the three pointed pirate hat off his head and holds it out to the freckled boy who is grinning ear to ear. He grabs it and exchanges it for his halo headband which he hands to Akaashi. 

“Looks even better on you!” Hmm he really shouldn’t flirt with the kid, considering that it looks like he came with the tall blond, matching costumes and all. He can’t deny that he looks good though, and the booze is definitely getting to him. He tucks the headband behind his ears. “What do you think, do I look the part?”

Yamaguchi giggles and nods “Come with me!” He grabs Akaashi’s arm and leads him to the garage where he ladles himself and Akaashi more jungle juice, purposefully fishing out several slices of fruit. He grabs an orange slice and pops it in his mouth, sucking the alcohol soaked flesh from the rind. “Mmmm.. The fruit is the best part. Wanna try some?”

Akaashi can’t tell if he’s just really drunk or putting on a show for someone, but either way he doesn’t mind. “Sure” He agrees and opens his mouth for the piece Yamaguchi is offering up. Unexpectedly the younger boy doesn't just feed him the slice, but instead tilts Akaashi’s head back and squeezes the juice into his mouth, some of it dripping down his fingers which he then licks clean. Ok he’s definitely putting on a show. But for Akaashi? Or someone else?

“Gotta keep you from getting scurvy, Mr. Pirate” The kid leans in to talk right in his ear over the loud music. 

“Aren’t you the pirate right now? I don’t think angels get vitamin deficiencies” Akaashi teases the kid while scanning the room. Uh oh. The blond devil is staring right at them, looking equal parts flustered and pissed off.

“Ah you’re right. Here ya go” The kid holds out the hat so they can switch back. “Lets go dance, come on there's a lot of people in the basement!” Once their headwear is sorted Yamaguchi grabs his arm again, and pulls him back into the house. 

“Are you sure you shouldn’t be dancing with your devil instead?” Akaashi asks once they are out the door and the music is a little less deafening. 

“No way! Tsukki doesn’t dance” The kid clearly doesn’t understand what Akaashi is getting at. 

“Isn’t he the guy you have your eye on? I mean I certainly don’t mind putting on a show if you’re trying to make him jealous but he didn’t exactly look too happy back there. 

“Tsukki?! No way! I mean he’s cute and all but it’s not like that. We’re just friends. We’ve been friends forever. Plus I don’t even think he likes guys. Not that he’s ever dated any girls. I guess I’ve never really asked but there's no way...Uh anyway that's not important, the guy I’ve got my eye on cancelled last minute but I already had the costume and all so I made Tsukki come dressed up. I knew he’d look good in red though, don’tcha think?” He’s stumbling over his words a bit and underneath his makeup he quickly reddens, clearly embarrassed. 

“Hmm I guess if you say so.” Akaashi flashes him a knowing smile. The boy blushes even more profusely. 

Good to know, he won’t push his luck with this one but his mind is getting fuzzier and fuzzier and he is only feeling bolder as the night wears on. Maybe a little performance is the catalyst that those two need to get together.

In the basement, bodies flash in and out of focus as the lights strobe. It’s hot and humid, but Akaashi finds that just this once maybe he doesn’t mind. He lets his body move to the music, taking Yamaguchi’s hand and jumping up and down as the beat drops, singing along to the lyrics of the chorus. 

Not even two songs in and he already spots the blond devil again, Tsukki was it? He is sulking in a corner of the basement avoiding being touched by anyone. The irony isn’t totally lost on Akaashi that he would typically be the one standing in the corner watching in disgust at the crowd of sweaty young adults. However, he has decided that he is a changed man, not to mention that he has a newfound matchmaking mission to carry out. He diverts his eyes back to Yamaguchi before it’s obvious to Tsukki that Akaashi has spotted him, and grabs the man to pull him close. 

He has only danced like this a handful of times, but he knows more or less what he is doing, and he thinks he can at least manage to impress the lanky kid and his jealous ‘friend’. His hand travels from the man’s arm to his waist where he presses their bodies together and syncs the rolling of their hips. He spins around so that his ass is pressed up against him and reaches for Yamaguchi’s hands so that he can bring them to his body, where he guides them to feel up his chest and torso, eventually settling on his hips. He peeks over at the corner where the blond is keeping tabs on them and sure enough the man seems to be in some kind of trance, mouth hanging open as he watches his ‘friend’ roll his body up against Akaashi. Of course as soon as he realizes Akaashi has caught him looking his expression turns icy. 

Akaashi just smiles at him before leaning his head back to whisper in Yamaguchi’s ear. “I think your friend wants to talk to you.” He stiffens and Akaashi takes the opportunity to really sell it, reaching up to hold the side of his face as his lips graze against the sensitive skin of his earlobe. 

“Look back and to the right, in the corner. You see him?” Yamaguchi nods slightly. 

“Go get him then” Akaashi pulls away and sends him off with a quick slap on the ass for good measure before returning to his dancing alone, observing from a distance as the two men interact. 

The dancing gets boring quickly. Akaashi is sweating like crazy in the hot basement and he doesn’t recognize any faces in the crowd as anyone that Kuroo introduced him to. Someone changes the song and it’s borderline undanceable. Time to go track Kuroo down again, he thinks. He stumbles a bit on his way up the stairs, squeezing past a couple that has decided to take up residence on the landing, too absorbed in their makeout session to realize how in the way they are. 

He checks the garage first, not finding him but stopping to refill his drink. There’s no sign of him there, or in the living room or kitchen. Maybe back in one of the bedrooms? There is a hallway that he hasn’t been down yet where it looks like several girls must be in line for the bathroom. He starts to slide past them, apologizing as he goes, heading for a half open door that leads to a room with lights on inside. Past the line of girls he can hear an argument taking place, and he thinks he might recognize one of the voices. When the arguing men come into view he can’t help but pry, looking to see if he can glean what the commotion is about.

Fuck. Shit. He silently panics and ducks into the open door, hoping that none of them caught sight of him. It was Yamaguchi and Tsukki. And not just those two but also the last person on the planet he wanted to see tonight. Terushima. His ex from the swim team. Is that who the kid had his sights set on? He’ll have to warn him. It’s not that he’s all that bad but Akaashi knows first hand what a player he can be. Does this make him and Yamaguchi eskimo brothers? What exactly are they fighting about? 

Akaashi’s over analytical brain is suddenly quieted when he turns around, remembering that he isn’t alone in the room.


End file.
